And the medals go to ...

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It's not all gloom. Mark Coultan and Tim Dick look at some of the winners.

TELSTRA STADIUM

Telstra Stadium is the outstanding success of Sydney's Games - but that is posing its own problems.

Its listed company, Stadium Australia Group, reported a $12.4 million profit for the second half of last year, helped by the Rugby World Cup. But by attracting the big rugby, league, AFL and cricket matches, it is drawing games, crowds and money away from other publicly owned and funded grounds.

The dilemma is illustrated by the issue of who will host cricket matches from the 2005-06 summer. Cricket NSW has put out a tender, with both the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Telstra Stadium vying for the contract.

The SCG Trust has declined to give any details of how it will retain cricket, other than suggesting it has a plan to increase its capacity to 50,000. Although it hasn't said so, this presumably means a new stand on the old hill area, the only part of the ground that doesn't have a major grandstand.

Telstra Stadium, on the other hand, is forthright in arguing its case, pointing to its greater capacity (nearly double the present SCG), its location, the financial benefits of bigger ticket sales and the danger of losing matches to an expanded 'Gabba in Brisbane, which will have a capacity similar to the SCG.

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It argues it is at a disadvantage in competition with the SCG, because the latter pays no land tax or government fees. It questions why a government body should spend more money to expand capacity when a private sector facility already provides it. It's a reasonable point, given that the State Government actually owns both grounds - Telstra Stadium will return to full government control in 2031.

RYDE POOL

The Olympics used two pool centres, one at Homebush and a smaller one at Ryde for water polo.

This little pretender, rather than the main venue, is now holding its own financially after an initially troubled time following the Games.

Gym chain Next Generation held the centre's head lease, but the Rans Management Company ran it until it went bust two years ago.

That forced Ryde Council to step in. It negotiated to take back the head lease and management of the centre, before reporting a $450,000 operating loss for 2002-03.

But for its first full year of self-operation after the Rans collapse that loss has been turned into an estimated $200,000 operating surplus, says the council's chief executive, Michael McMahon.

The fiscal U-turn happened because the council "made it more desirable for people to attend", he says. "[We had] to encourage people to see it as their facility."

The council did that by building a kiosk, outdoor seating and play areas, increasing swimming lessons and including use of the slides and wave pool in the admission price.

Patronage has increased to more than 500,000 a year, McMahon says, up from about 300,000 before the council took over. "That's associated with people now respecting it as a community facility," he says.

In contrast, the Government-run aquatic centre at Homebush has 1 million visits annually, but still needs a massive subsidy to survive.

PENRITH WHITEWATER

The man-made whitewater river at Penrith has received no government funding since the state chipped in half the $6.5 million construction cost.

But Penrith Whitewater, the subsidy-free and council-owned company now running the venue, is breaking even.

It has forecast an operating surplus for the 2003-04 financial year, compared with a $86,000 loss in 2002-03, after a 17 per cent increase in revenue to about $2.3 million.

It now gets most of its money from casual whitewater rafting. In 2003-04, more than 28,000 people rafted down its 320 metres of artificial rapids.

Jack Hodge, the centre's programs co-ordinator, says, "We're doing a lot more business than the facility was ever designed for."

Penrith Whitewater would like to expand the centre but it is difficult to make a case for the State Government to fund this while it is propping up so many other Olympic legacies.